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RCA In-line Attenuators

elcoholic

elcoholic

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I decided to take a chance on these. Moved the background listening position of my volume control past the initial step from nothing to too much. So far so good, no degradation to SQ at low volume. It’s early so testing at higher levels will come later.
I put them on the preamp output which is 35-40 cable feet from the amps. The concealed cable is repurposed high quality shielded component video cable. Any advantage to putting the attenuators downstream at the amps?
 
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I was actually think about a pair of the 30 Hz high pass versions between my phono preamp and amp. Figured they'd act as a subsonic filter.

Mike
 
63pontiacgp said:
I was actually think about a pair of the 30 Hz high pass versions between my phono preamp and amp. Figured they'd act as a subsonic filter.

Mike
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For the price it’s worth a shot. I may try these for my headphone amp which never gets much north of 9:00 either. I suppose I could also try them on my phono-pre and DAC which are my only sources.
 
Just on a side note: Patent pending??? Hmmm.... I wonder, what magical circuitry Harrison would use, so they could get a patent for an anttenuator.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
lini said:
Just on a side note: Patent pending??? Hmmm.... I wonder, what magical circuitry Harrison would use, so they could get a patent for an anttenuator.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
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Good question especially for $25 a pair. Labor, indirect overheads, packaging and freight are likely better than 1/2 their cost. I would expect most people that would know what an attenuator is would also know what Patent Pending is worth :smoke:

I’ve been listening to Miles Davis vinyl all day and I’m liking what I hear. I’m listening to my 1/2 speed mastered and speed-corrected KOB with my hot rod DL-103r loudly and it sounds excellent on the DQ-10’s. I’m between tube phono-preamps using an Emotiva XPS-1 which sounds a bit brittle at higher volume. That’s gone and the cymbals are still clean and bright and the brushes are distinguishable from the tape hiss. Insertion loss with benefits?
 
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I used one of these cheap volume controls (attenuators) (https://www.amazon.com/CHELINK-Univ...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl) to do volume-matched comparison of two components on an amp where the volume level of XLR inputs was 3db quieter than RCA.

I was able to tune the volume to be exactly matched using only a bit of the volume range and there was no detectable negative impact on sound quality. The Fmods are probably better built, but this variable attenuator works very well.

61UuyQyezcL._AC_SL1200_.jpg
 
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peterp1 said:
I used one of these cheap volume controls (attenuators) (https://www.amazon.com/CHELINK-Univ...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl) to do volume-matched comparison of two components on an amp where the volume level of XLR inputs was 3db quieter than RCA.

I was able to tune the volume to be exactly matched using only a bit of the volume range and there was no detectable negative impact on sound quality. The Fmods are probably better built, but this variable attenuator works very well.

61UuyQyezcL._AC_SL1200_.jpg
Click to expand...
I could have used my Schiit Sys, but given the length of my unbalanced cable runs I didn’t want to have another pot in series to solve a pot problem.
 
elcoholic said:
I put them on the preamp output which is 35-40 cable feet from the amps. The concealed cable is repurposed high quality shielded component video cable. Any advantage to putting the attenuators downstream at the amps?
Click to expand...
First of all I must declare an interest (obviously).
A potential divider has an input and an output. They're not interchangeable. Is the input at the male end of the attenuator or the female end? That will determine which way round they should be used.
That's why I make two types of attenuator - one type goes at source end of the cable, the other type goes at the destination end of the cable.
I generally recommend using attenuators at the destination end of the cable (ie on amplifier inputs, not outputs) because that puts the cable capacitance at the input side of the attenuator and minimises any HF roll-off.
Btw, the abbreviation of decibel is dB, not DB.
 
peterp1 said:
I used one of these cheap volume controls (attenuators) (https://www.amazon.com/CHELINK-Univ...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl) to do volume-matched comparison of two components on an amp where the volume level of XLR inputs was 3db quieter than RCA.

I was able to tune the volume to be exactly matched using only a bit of the volume range and there was no detectable negative impact on sound quality. The Fmods are probably better built, but this variable attenuator works very well.

61UuyQyezcL._AC_SL1200_.jpg
Click to expand...
I used one of these variable attenuators between a bluetooth transmitter and my vintage Sony amp. The Sony "tape out" was so high it was overloading the bluetooth transmitter. As a result, the bluetooth speakers on my porch sounded awful. I thought it was just that bluetooth had bad fidelity...until I placed this in line, lowered the signal into the bluetooth receiver, and the on the outdoor bluetooth speakers cleared up. I can now listen to vinyl on my patio!!!
 
rothwellaudio said:
I generally recommend using attenuators at the destination end of the cable (ie on amplifier inputs, not outputs) because that puts the cable capacitance at the input side of the attenuator and minimises any HF roll-off.
Click to expand...

I agree, and I would think it's also better for noise immunity to have the higher-level signal running down the entire length of the cable and then attenuate at the end of that length.
 
rothwellaudio said:
First of all I must declare an interest (obviously).
A potential divider has an input and an output. They're not interchangeable. Is the input at the male end of the attenuator or the female end? That will determine which way round they should be used.
That's why I make two types of attenuator - one type goes at source end of the cable, the other type goes at the destination end of the cable.
I generally recommend using attenuators at the destination end of the cable (ie on amplifier inputs, not outputs) because that puts the cable capacitance at the input side of the attenuator and minimises any HF roll-off.
Btw, the abbreviation of decibel is dB, not DB.
Click to expand...

Obviously I thought this discussion would be on your radar. Thanks for the explanation. PM to follow after making the switch and listening to Chick Corea’s RTF again while still fresh.
 
lini said:
Just on a side note: Patent pending??? Hmmm.... I wonder, what magical circuitry Harrison would use, so they could get a patent for an anttenuator.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
Click to expand...

Can't you just apply for a patent for free, even with a bogus plan, and legally say you have a "patent pending"? It's ben a meaningless term for decades.
 
egellings said:
Maybe the patent is for the packaging of the attenuator in an RCA adaptor, rather than the attenuator itself. (...)
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Hmmm - you wouldn't happen to know, how long the Harrison models already are on the market, would you? Because over here the Monacor/IMG Stageline ILA-1020s have already been on the market for at least 10 years - and that's also an RCA adaptor design, which even includes an additional, little switch (for choosing between -10, -15 and -20 dB).


doctor fuse said:
Can't you just apply for a patent for free, even with a bogus plan, and legally say you have a "patent pending"? (...)
Click to expand...

Afaik, nope - but it's quite inexpensive. See the current price list there: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule


Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
Technically you likely have to stop saying Patent Pending once you let your application expire, but there’s probably no enforcement.
 
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